Barriers
by MixFalafel
Summary: Everyone who wants to be a lawyer has to go through university at some point, and that's exactly what Jaune plans to do. A new start, a new life, university is exciting right? It has so much more freedom than high school, right? Wrong. Watch as university slaps Jaune silly until he learns what it truly means to be a uni student, and just maybe he can get a girlfriend. University AU


**{A/N} Hi everyone again, been a while since I was on here. I found a little inspiration to maybe start something while reading Coeur Al'Aran (great guy, if you haven't read his stories yet they're top notch). I figured that writing about the university life would be something fun, while playing around with how I write. Rather than spilling out all the details in one go I'd just hint at characteristics along the way. Now I can't guarantee I was effective with this but I thought I'd give it a try. Anyways, I haven't written in a while so I have no idea how this will be.**

* * *

Jaune Arc has always known what he wanted to after he graduated from high school. Graduate from university, write his LSAT, become a lawyer and start a firm one day. He was well underway on his first step, or rather, trial. Acceptance to university is a great accomplishment that requires a fair amount of effort. However it should never be taken lightly. A university student is not free, and has no chance of relaxing. It is a common misconception among teenagers that university is _easier_ than high school, and these teenagers should be informed that they could never be more wrong. He will learn this the hard way.

At the present moment, our protagonist is packing his luggage, ensuring he has all of his required accessories. Tooth brush? Check. Underwear? Check. Clothes? Check. Bunny onesie? Check. He quickly gathered his final belongings and closed the luggage, signifying the conclusion of his time at home. With a hug and a kiss to his mother and his 7 sisters, he and his father began the exciting yet equally dreadful drive to the train station.

"Jaune," his father quivered, "I just want you to know… you're the young man I always hoped you would turn out to be. I know you're smart, and I want you to know I believe in you."

"Thanks, Dad, I'm really gonna miss you all at home." Jaune replied as calmly as he could. He exited the car, grabbed his bags, and walked to the station. Just at the entrance to the station his father called out his name one last time.

"Don't forget kiddo," he laughed, trying to break the sadness, "all the ladies look for is confidence."

Jaune laughed as he entered the doors. The closing of the automatic doors signaled the curtain fall of his last moments in his home town.

Jaune's train arrived shortly after, and after he gave his luggage to the attendant he took a seat in the comfortable train. Jaune broke down.

* * *

15 minutes into the train ride, Jaune collected himself and focused on the problem at hand. What could he do to get his mind off of home?

 _I could always message Ruby about what's happening_

Jaune pulled up his phone and unlocked it. Nothing too fancy of a phone, a bit outdated, but it was good and still did the trick.

 _Jaune: Hey how's it going?_

 _Ruby: I just woke up._

Jaune looked at his phone to see that it was noon.

 _Jaune: Ruby that's a bit later than usual, don't you think?_

Bear in mind that this girl sends Jaune texts at 7 in the morning sometimes.

 _Ruby: Sure moooooom, I won't let it happen again :P_

 _Jaune: Don't forget to eat your broccoli so you can have strong bones_

The two of them were the best of friends, despite the two year age difference. Ruby swore she would catch up to Jaune in no time so the two of them could go to university together. Unlike most people, Jaune could tease her without her taking him seriously. Of course it took a while for Ruby to get used to this, but the two had come to nickname each other: vomit boy for Jaune and crater face for Ruby.

 _Ruby: Sorry Jaune, I have to go now. I have a doctor's appointment. Make sure you tell me about Beacon, and we have to have a Skype call at some point._

 _Jaune: Alright Ruby, sounds like a plan. I don't wanna hold you up so I'll catch you later_

Jaune sighed and closed his phone. Now what was he going to do? He opened his laptop for some entertainment, but it died within an hour due to a fast draining battery. He played Cytus on his phone but that grew boring and repetitive very quickly. He looked around that other faces and found a pretty girl his age with white hair sitting beside him.

"Hey, I'm Jaune." He smiled, only for it to be erased immediately with the words of his respondent.

"I'm not interested." She snubbed her nose to him.

 _Pardon me? I'm not interested? Who said I was hitting on you?_ He thought to himself.

"Alright, sorry to bother you then, I was just looking to make a new friend." He concluded, convinced that this was going to be the end of the conversation.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I'm Weiss Schnee of the Schnee mining company. We provide some of the clearest jewelry for jewelers to sell." She added.

"I see, I've definitely heard of the Schnee Mining Company. Again, sorry to bother you, it won't happen again."

Jaune could already tell that the remainder of this train ride would be uncomfortable. Especially when his stomach began to turn.

 _No no no no no, not like this! I took Gravol to stop this! I shouldn't be getting motion sickness, I should be feeling fine!_

* * *

After a horrid 5 hour train ride, wherein Jaune lost his stomach much to the disgust of the Schnee girl, he found himself in Vale, the home to Beacon University. As he left the train station he marveled at the sight of the large city, the university towering above it in the distance. The remnants of his previous remorse were instantaneously replaced with a spark of excitement. Jaune imagined what his life as a university student would be like. He knew he would have to study every so often, but with breaks in between classes and even a day off during the semester? He would kick back, make a cup of coffee or open a can of beer, boot up his laptop and watch his favourite streamer, imaqtpie, in the morning or his favourite community, the Achievement Hunters in the afternoon.

Nope.

Jaune grabbed the Beacon coacher bus and after 15 minutes he found himself at his new home. He would marvel later at the size and beauty of his campus, but more importantly he needed to drop off his 300 pound collection of belongings off at his room before he tore a muscle lugging it around.

"Room 631… room 632… I could have sworn it wasn't room 636..." He mumbled to himself audibly.

"Feeling a little lost?" an unknown voice asked him. He looked up to see a friendly girl with red hair and emerald eyes smiling at him.

"Yeah, uh, any clue where room 636 is?" he asked sheepishly. The girl giggled.

"You must be Jaune. We've spoken quite frequently over the internet. It would be necessary too, since we're roommates."

Jaune's eyes widened. It wasn't Ren, because that was a guy. It wasn't Nora, since from what he was told she always stayed by Ren and had an unnatural amount of energy. This girl was calmer, which meant it was…

"Pyrrha?" he blinked twice. Pyrrha waved at him politely and smiled.

"I'll show you the way, Ren and Nora haven't arrived yet so it'll just be us two or a little while."

Jaune followed her to the dorm room and while it wasn't exactly perfect or comfortable like home, it was still cozy enough. At the entrance the dorm looked small, but after entering he could see that it was spacious enough for four people. Immediately after turning right he could see four doors which he could only assume led to bedrooms.

"So, uh, do I just pick a room?" Jaune inquired quietly. It was questions like this that made him worry that someone would laugh at his stupidity. As a result, the volume of his voice could drop when he was scared of asking a dumb question.

"I would assume so. I guess we'll just call it first come first serve. I picked the room to the far left, if you don't mind." Pyrrha answered politely.

After careful consideration, Jaune picked the room that was to the middle-left. It had a window with a good view to the city, and provided easy access to the couch. He would only have to walk in a straight line. After he placed his luggage in his room, he looked down at his course schedule.

" _Alright, so I have Microeconomics in the Faculty of Social Sciences building, Macroeconomics in the Pulse Hall, Politics and Public Administration in the Atlas building, and English in the Castle building"_

Jaune informed Pyrrha he would take a tour of the campus and bid her farewell. The buildings were beyond what he expected. The Faculty of Social Sciences had a large wall of plants at the far wall, with a giant seating area filled with couches and tables for students to rest and study. Pulse was the Health Sciences building, and he found lots of astounding technology to train the aspiring students in their grueling path to becoming a doctor. The building was white on the inside, but very high tech. On the floor were lines to each room. Pulse may have been the faculty of Health Sciences building, but it was also the school infirmary. At least Jaune knew where to go if he ever ended up in a bad situation. The Atlas building was filled with students wearing suits. He was greeted with a rotating globe of the planet, with clusters of wooden chairs on either side of it for students to study . In this case however there were no tables, meaning students had to place their binders and laptops on their laps. Lastly was the castle building. Unlike the Pulse building, which was new and high tech, the Castle building was clearly aged and showed signs that it had been through its times. The building was made of bricks and showed plants slowly creeping their way up the wall. When he entered, he found himself standing on white tile. After scouting the building he found that there was nowhere to sit, but the seats in the classrooms where fabric but aged. He made a mental note to avoid the chairs that had stains on them.

After spotting his course buildings, he took the time to locate various buildings on campus that could be useful, such as the gym (membership was included in the tuition), the library as a quiet place to study, and of course the cafeteria. Food is good.

After scouting the university, he took a stroll to pass the time. He looked at the students in the distance that partied for frosh week and he felt his stomach well up with envy. He hated crowds but the students looked to be heavily enjoying themselves. Regret clouded his mind as he recalled his refusal to buy a kit for frosh week.

Frosh week is an event that takes place on the first week of school to celebrate a new school year and the arrival of new first years. Different games are played, and first years often face hazing as a sort of initiation.

Jaune was not going to subject himself to hazing, nor was he fond of parties, so he decided not to partake in such an event. He looked at the faces of many students but his eyes rested on a girl with red hair, namely Pyrrha. Jaune felt regret that he hadn't taken the time to know his new roommate and the envy in his stomach was replaced by fear.

 _What if she ignores me? What if she decides I'm not worth her time? I thought getting roommates made it easier to make friends, but I can't even talk to them. Nice Jaune, you're starting off on the wrong foot._

He stopped his walk and turned around. The disappointment on his face did not go unnoticed by Pyrrha however, who was monitoring him from a distance.

* * *

He thought he knew what to expect. He didn't. He didn't know at _all_. Unnaturally energetic can explain someone being enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky, but no. This didn't describe Nora. This wasn't even remotely close.

Jaune looked between the calm and composed boy with a stripe of magenta in his hair and the –you can't put it into words how energetic she is- orange haired girl with the heart of a child currently jumping on her bed singing "I'm queen of the castle".

It was beyond him how those two were best friends.

"Pardon her, I promise she won't keep you up at night." Ren apologized courtly. Jaune gave a nervous chuckle.

Jaune decided to unpack his belongings. He first was tidied his casual everyday clothes into the dresser. In the closet, he hung up his pants and his suit that he brought along for special occasions. He put his toiletries in the bathroom and lastly he set up his desk. He placed his laptop down, and worked around it from there. First he plugged it into the wall so it had a chance to charge, followed by his writing utensils. He placed his printer on the floor beside his desk and loaded it with paper. After some finishing touches and setting up the desk lamp his room was complete.

Judging by the lack of baggage in the living room, his other roommates had followed suit and the dorm looked tidy and orderly. Jaune felt his stomach rumble. Good thing he mapped out the university.

Jaune has the meal plan, so three times a day he is allowed entrance to the cafeteria. For dinner, Jaune grabbed a hamburger and chose his toppings, accompanied by a glass of 8-Bit. He found himself a secluded area and began his meal. As he ate, he looked around at the different faces of people chatting and enjoying a meal. That is, until a tray slammed in front of him and captured his attention.

" _Nora._ It's rude to startle someone like that." He heard the voice of Ren sternly correct the behaviour of his friend.

"Oh come _on_ Ren we're all friends here." she replied carelessly and took a seat.

"Nora, we just met him today. That doesn't mean we get to forget our manners." He shot back, but she wasn't listening. Instead she was staring Jaune down. He did not feel comfortable with this.

" _Nora!_ He's eating; you don't stare at someone while he's eating. You didn't even ask if he was fine with us sitting here." Ren began to sound annoyed. Jaune scratched the back of his head, and laughed it off.

"It's fine Ren, we're all friends here. Of course I don't mind if you guys sit with me."

Ren sighed and took a seat beside Nora.

"So, Jauney- " "Nora, his name isn't-" "yeah yeah, Renny. What do you like to do Jauney?"

"Nothing much really, I just watch videos and live streamers I guess. Maybe I'll play a video game here and there. How about yourself and Ren?" He replied.

"Oh! Oh! I _loooooooove_ piggybacking off of Ren, and food fights! Oh, and playing queen of the castle is _greeeeeeeeeeat!_ " Nora began, but before she could go into a full list, and she would have done that had it not been for Ren, who interjected with his own hobbies.

"I meditate and I'm a martial arts teacher. Other than that, I normally just accompany Nora with whatever she does." He responded quickly.

-Silence-

"Uhhh sorry guys, I'm not great at making conversations. I'll be right back; I'm gonna go get some ice cream."

Jaune grabbed a scoop of strawberry vanilla ice cream, and sat back down at his previous table. Ren and Nora were both engaged in a conversation so he finished his ice cream quick and placed his dishes in the cleaning area.

 _I guess I'm really not that interesting, huh._

"See you at the dorm Jauney!" Nora called out to him. He gave out a smile and waved back. As soon as he left the cafeteria Jaune made a beeline back to his dorm. Jaune knew that at this time, especially in such a heavily populated area, meant that the dangerous people would come outside. Jaune wasn't used to the campus at night however and was slightly off the path to his dorm. The area reeked of marijuana, and every few groups of drug addicts he passed he could hear them laughing at him.

Judging him.

He didn't notice that he picked up the pace and moved more speedily to his dorm. When he entered the room, he found Ren and Nora's shoes at the door, and all three of his roommates' doors were closed. Not a sound. None at all. He let out a breath of relief; Ren was right when he said Nora would not keep him awake.

He changed into his onesie, set his alarm for 7:30 and slipped into his bed. His bed was nothing comfortable like home, but it was cozy enough that he could sleep.

He grabbed his phone to see what updates he may have, only to find 9 messages from Ruby, that one friend he had spoken to earlier and had promised to talk to as soon as he got to Beacon. Jaune cursed to himself and opened his phone.

 _Ruby: Hey Jaune, how's the university life? You should be at the university by now, right?_

 _Ruby: How are the cookies there? Don't forget to drink milk so you can grow ^.^_

 _Ruby: Jaune, did you say you were going to Beacon?_

 _Ruby: I REMEMBER NOW! OMG YOU ARE GOING TO THE SAME SCHOOL AS MY SISTER YANG!_

 _Ruby: I can't wait for you two to meet each other and get along. Look for the girl with blonde hair that's suuuuuuper popular_

 _Ruby: Jaune answer me I wanna talk :(_

 _Ruby: Jaune I'm really bored_

 _Ruby: Jaune please answer me…_

 _Ruby: Alright Jaune just send me a message when you can, I miss you already 3_

Jaune opened up his keyboard and typed a message back.

 _Jaune: Hey Ruby, sorry about that. Beacon is huge, I got carried away checking it out that I forgot to answer you. Cafeteria didn't have cookies today, but yes I go to Beacon. I guess I'll be on a sharp lookout for your sister? She wouldn't have much interest in a dork like me, but I'll say hi. I'll send you pictures later of Beacon and my dorm so you know what to expect. Maybe we can even be roommates when you move here. Anyways, I have class tomorrow at 8:30 and I don't want to be late so I'm gonna go to bed now. I'll talk to you tomorrow alright?_

With that message he looked up at the time. _11:30_. Jaune closed his phone, plugged it into the wall and drifted off into sleep before his first day of classes.

* * *

 **{A/N} Hopefully you guys picked up some of our protagonist's characteristics here. I decided to keep this at the first day at Beacon because it's meant to be introductory. I have no idea whether to keep going with this or not but just shoot me a review or PM so I know whether I should keep an effort with writing this. That being said, I look forward to the feedback and criticism on this one.**


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